83 



upwards of L.^000 sterling ; many of them are tall 

 magnificent trees, nothing can excel them in beauty. 

 The chesnut, as an ornamental tree, is excelled by 

 none and equalled by few, and it has a degree of 

 greatness belonging to it, which strongly recommends 

 it to the forester's attention ; its properties as timber 

 have been pointed out and recommended elsewhere 

 in this book. I may here add, that its timber is uni- 

 versally allowed to be excellent for liquor casks, not 

 being liable to shrink, nor to change the colour of 

 the liquor it contains. Its fruit too is valuable, not 

 only for swine and deer, but as human food ; bread 

 is said to have been made of it and found very 

 wholesome ; upon the whole, the Spanish chesnut, 

 whether in the light of ornament or use, is most un- 

 doubtedly an object of great admiration. 



There is a chesimt on the estate of Gask, Perth- 

 shire, which girths twelve feet in the trunk, the 

 branches of which spread to a great extent, covering 

 no less than three hundred feet in circumference, 

 of course a most magnificent tree. See the prolific 

 Spanish chesnut on the estate of Riccarton, elsewhere 

 described in this work. 



No. XV. 



Cnochgamgoach ; or, Alexander M'DonalcVs Camp. 



[[Stroneskar, on the estate of Neill Malcolm, Esq. of Poltalloch, near 

 Lochaw, Argyleshire.]] 



The beautiful old Scotch firs on this artificial knoll 

 are of an excellent quality, and are still healthy and 

 thriving, although assailed by boisterous winds, un- 

 protected and unsheltered in all directions ; all pos- 



